2021 Honda LPGA Thailand (May 06 - 09)

[Argonne69]

Race to the CME Globe: 500 Points

 

Format: 72 holes

 

Purse: $1,600,000

 

Location: Siam Country Club, Pattaya Old Course, Chonburi, Thailand

 

Par: 72

 

Yardage: 6576 yds

 

History: This is the 14th year for the event. In 2019, Amy Yang won her third Honda LPGA Thailand after carding a 7 under round to beat Minjee Lee by one stroke.

 

Coverage:

 

May 05: The Golf Channel 12:00 am - 4:00 am (EDT)

May 06: The Golf Channel 12:00 am - 4:00 am (EDT)

May 07: The Golf Channel 12:00 am - 4:00 am (EDT)

May 08: The Golf Channel 12:00 am - 4:00 am (EDT)

 

 

[HMHS]

If you're not the night owl yet that was Singapore, let's see how you survive watching this one LIVE! 😛   

[Argonne69]

Well, the good news is that we'll get another week seeing plenty of shots, albeit with wonky camerawork I imagine. Four hours of coverage each night. The bad news of course is that the broadcast airs overnight in North America. 'Perfect if you have insomnia.

 

'Good line-up of invitees, which also means a weaker field. However, the invitees include some decent talent, including Atthaya Thitkul and Hinako Shibuno.

 

The weather forecast looks iffy. 'Chance of morning and afternoon thunderstorms each day. Once again fingers crossed.

 

I'm going to be lazy and go with Amy Yang this week. She's won it in '19, '17, and '15. '21 should be her year, too. Lol. 

 

Danielle and Minjee have been in a minor slump. Can they get in the mix? Will Patty stay hot in front of the (limited) home fans?

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by Argonne69

[HMHS]

My bets were: I wanna see how Jen Thitikul compares to the pros, and of course Su Oh and SYR -- who else right??  I gotta catch up in our own little tournament! 

[Argonne69]

Just now, Supermilo said:

My bets were: I wanna see how Jen Thitikul compares to the pros, and of course Su Oh and SYR -- who else right??  I gotta catch up in our own little tournament! 

 

The contest is messing me up. I had the same issue with Fantasy Football. How can you cheer for your picks coming down the stretch when your favorite players are also in the mix??? 

[HMHS]

24 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

 

The contest is messing me up. I had the same issue with Fantasy Football. How can you cheer for your picks coming down the stretch when your favorite players are also in the mix??? 

Yes, exactly. I wanna cheer for Hinako too who's in a slump lately after the US Open.  Then again she wasn't playing that well prior to the 2020 US open either - shuffling between two tours must be taking its toll on her.

 

But back to topic, yes, at this point I need all the points to move up a bit further away from being a laggard 😂 hence Su Oh and SYR for this one 😂

[ChronicSlicer]

I'll stick to what I said Saturday, Amy Yang. Darkhorse for the week, Moriya.

I'm looking for Megan Khang and Minjee to give it go as well.

Looks like Carlota is possibly getting into a groove.

[Stooch]

I'm gonna go with probably a very unpopular take and pick the best player from Thailand ........... Atthaya Thitikul 😇  I see patterns with other players of her age able to come on tour and just TAKE LPGA membership and I think this is a field that this goal is definitely achievable. 

[Stooch]

2 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

The contest is messing me up. I had the same issue with Fantasy Football. How can you cheer for your picks coming down the stretch when your favorite players are also in the mix??? 

 

I play lots of Fantasy football on Fanduel (weekly) and my problem is never about teams I'm cheering for (more to the point teams I bet on that week) it's it ruins my viewing experience cause I never watch more than 5 minutes of a game at a time and going to all the various games see  what the players I picked are doing.  It never fails that I miss great plays on a game I just changed the channel from 3 minutes before lol

[Stooch]

2 hours ago, Supermilo said:

If you're not the night owl yet that was Singapore, let's see how you survive watching this one LIVE! 😛   

 

Well seeing our provincial government has us boarded up in our homes, you can pretty much sleep whenever you want lol.  Although I live in a rural area and while the stores follow the rules, there really is no lockdown here, I do whatever I want whenever I want, along with everybody else here lol 

[HMHS]

1 hour ago, Stooch said:

I'm gonna go with probably a very unpopular take and pick the best player from Thailand ........... Atthaya Thitikul 😇  I see patterns with other players of her age able to come on tour and just TAKE LPGA membership and I think this is a field that this goal is definitely achievable. 

well then, there's 2 of us here haha - i attribute this "insanity" to the "lockdown" that has been imposed on us (Eg saying Jen Thitikul is Thailand's best ☺︎ - to come)

Edited May 3, 2021 by HMHS

[Stooch]

5 minutes ago, Supermilo said:

well then, there's 2 of us here haha - i attribute this "insanity" to the "lockdown" that has been imposed on us (Eg saying Jen Thitikul is Thailand's best ☺︎ - to come)

Well the great thing for Jen, judging on current form, there are 4 players she has really has to worry about.  Amy and So Yeon's are trending up and "Patty T" 🙂 is dangerous but she's still throw's in a lackluster round, except at the ANA.  Lydia form is probably the most dangerous and her only real issue last week was not scoring as good as she probably should have.  If Jen can put all her talent together for 4 rounds, this is the perfect field to get that Maiden LPGA win.

[Stooch]

Anyone know why Charley Hull is getting into these 2 Asian event on Sponsor invites, her ranking should be fine to get in these fields?

[Argonne69]

56 minutes ago, Stooch said:

Anyone know why Charley Hull is getting into these 2 Asian event on Sponsor invites, her ranking should be fine to get in these fields?

 

Great question. She was 40th on the money list last season, and 36th this season. She's 36th this year in CME points, and was 66th last year.

 

Refresh my memory, do they use the money list of CME points to set the field? This year's or last year's?

 

[Stooch]

3 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Great question. She was 40th on the money list last season, and 36th this season. She's 36th this year in CME points, and was 66th last year.

 

Refresh my memory, do they use the money list of CME points to set the field? This year's or last year's?

 

 

You could be right about CME points being the marker, Seamus mentioned in last weeks thread they seemed to be using the 2020 qualification list and maybe with this event as well.

[Argonne69]

34 minutes ago, Stooch said:

 

You could be right about CME points being the marker, Seamus mentioned in last weeks thread they seemed to be using the 2020 qualification list and maybe with this event as well.

 

With the craziness last year, are we sure they're not using 2019 lists? Lol. She was 51st in CME points in '19.

[Stooch]

8 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

 

With the craziness last year, are we sure they're not using 2019 lists? Lol. She was 51st in CME points in '19.

 

Well yes and now I do think they probably do use CME points but for 2020 you would use the finish in 2019 to make the priority list.  Example in 2019, Thailand was the 2nd event of the season (Feb 25) and Singapore was 3rd (march 3rd) the 1st event was limited field Diamond Resorts event, so 2019 events would have used the 2018 finish as the criteria.  If basing it on CME points or money earned wouldn't really be fair using a handful of events and you'd probably lose a whole bunch of good players who had a slow start to the season.

[Seamus_McDuff]

I wonder if maybe she didn’t decide to play until automatic entry was already closed and the only way in was an invite. She’s listed as the last invitee for both events. 

[HMHS]

Anyone has a direct line to Hull?  Let's just ask her to clear this up! :P.  @18majors just speed dial her UK number

[Stooch]

17 minutes ago, Supermilo said:

Anyone has a direct line to Hull?  Let's just ask her to clear this up! :P.  @18majors just speed dial her UK number

 

Beth Ann is busy working on a story right now 🙂

[18majors]

@Supermilo , @Stooch @Seamus_McDuff

 

I's going to offer the same explanation, but @Seamus_McDuff beat me to it.

 

@Stooch , it happens quite often at WTA, we all know about it, right?

[Stooch]

6 minutes ago, 18majors said:

@Supermilo , @Stooch @Seamus_McDuff

 

I's going to offer the same explanation, but @Seamus_McDuff beat me to it.

 

@Stooch , it happens quite often at WTA, we all know about it, right?

 

Something I noticed over the years specifically with regards to the US Open and the KPMG, while not universal it seem many of the top pro's split taking off the week before either Major and its what I assumed was to ensure decent representation for all events.  I noticed top pro's who skipped the week before the US Open played the week before the KPMG and vice versa.   The Vegas event is interesting as a match play event, it's one thing to play the week before if you are a top pro and expect to get 4 rounds but i wonder how many wanna travel around and risk being eliminate on Thurs. when you might be better served staying home and working.  It will be interesting to see the field for the event.  It's pure speculation but perhaps Charley did decide to play based on taking off one of the weeks before the Major.  I'm thinking we'll see all the player not in Asia playing in Vegas but will be interested to see how many big names playing in Asia taking the week before the US Open off.  Again with Covid hard to say what the logic about anything is lol

[JungleJimbo]

3 hours ago, Stooch said:

 

Well yes and now I do think they probably do use CME points but for 2020 you would use the finish in 2019 to make the priority list.  Example in 2019, Thailand was the 2nd event of the season (Feb 25) and Singapore was 3rd (march 3rd) the 1st event was limited field Diamond Resorts event, so 2019 events would have used the 2018 finish as the criteria.  If basing it on CME points or money earned wouldn't really be fair using a handful of events and you'd probably lose a whole bunch of good players who had a slow start to the season.

@Stoochand @Argonne69= correct w.r.t. using 2019 season-end Money List as the basis for 2021 LPGA tournament entries. 

 

Link to the 2 recent “2021 LPGA Priority List”

 

Presumably “5Feb2021 version” was used for Thailand?: https://www.lpga.com/-/media/files/priority-list/2021/2021lpga-priority-listupdate2020020521.pdf

 

..26April2021 version: https://www.lpga.com/-/media/files/priority-list/2021/2021lpga-priority-listupdate042621.pdf

 

..Categories/ details, in the Honda LPGA Thailand tournament website (click on ‘Tournament Entries’):

https://www.lpga.com/tournaments/honda-lpga-thailand/tournament-entries

(ie confirming @Seamus_McDuff’s hypothesis w.r.t. Charley Hull’s sponsor invite status)

Edited May 3, 2021 by JungleJimbo

[Cwebb]

I'll pick Patty in this one.  Impressed with her move into contention this past week, when a lot of focus was on her

[Lobby]

While Thailand is farther north than Singapore, I can't imagine the temps will be any cooler.

Unless it rains.

 

 

[HMHS]

35 minutes ago, Lobby said:

While Thailand is farther north than Singapore, I can't imagine the temps will be any cooler.

Unless it rains.

 

 

It isn't... Heck it's a tad more sticky with the pollution in BKK... However, even if they're not playing in BKK, it'll be minimal diff, if at all... 

[KBong]

12 hours ago, Supermilo said:

Yes, exactly. I wanna cheer for Hinako too who's in a slump lately after the US Open.  Then again she wasn't playing that well prior to the 2020 US open either - shuffling between two tours must be taking its toll on her.

 

But back to topic, yes, at this point I need all the points to move up a bit further away from being a laggard 😂 hence Su Oh and SYR for this one 😂

It's basically impossible not to cheer for the "Smiling Cinderella"   I like Shibuno.

BUT

I think she caught lightening in a bottle at the 2019 WBO.

She did play well on the JLPGA in 2019....but the talent on the JLPGA pales against the top LPGA pros.

Shibuno hasn't really played well in her LPGA invites.

 

I think her swing is just a tad too loose to provide much needed consistency.

 

I do hope Shibuno can be successful at Q-Series if she registers and can be a weekly LPGA contender, but unfortunately I'm not overly confident.

I hope Shibuno proves me WRONG.

[KBong]

4 hours ago, Stooch said:

 

Beth Ann is busy working on a story right now 🙂

Can't say I'm a Beth Ann fan...she and Paige Mac giggle too much.

[KBong]

8 hours ago, Stooch said:

Anyone know why Charley Hull is getting into these 2 Asian event on Sponsor invites, her ranking should be fine to get in these fields?

This is an easy one to answer....Hull is managed/represented by the "Dark Side"...aka IMG.😂

 

I believe many of the Asia Swing events are outsourced to IMG to run the events and also the TV production too???

 

I noticed Adam Woodward was not on Hull's bag In Singapore....did Charley fire him again or is this a temporary situation where Adam isn't making the Asia Swing???

[Stooch]

3 minutes ago, KBong said:

This is an easy one to answer....Hull is managed/represented by the "Dark Side"...aka IMG.😂

 

I believe many of the Asia Swing events are outsourced to IMG to run the events and also the TV production too???

 

I noticed Adam Woodward was not on Hull's bag In Singapore....did Charley fire him again or is this a temporary situation where Adam isn't making the Asia Swing???

 

Yeah, they did pretty good by Brooke when she started out, although they didn't get her in the Asian swing in 2016, her 1st full season as a member.  She did play the Vic Open when it was still an LET event, which went on during the first Asian event that year and probably something she decided to do herself.